BOX8 raises Rs 7 crores of venture debt from Trifecta Capital as part of its Rs 50 Crore series B round

MUMBAI: Online food tech company BOX8 has raised Rs 7 crores in venture debt funding from Trifecta Capital. The capital infusion is in addition to the Rs 50 crores that Box8 raised in its series B round from IIFL Seed Ventures Fund & Mayfield. With this the total capital raised by the company stands at about Rs 79 crores.

“Venture debt is an excellent proposition since it provides access to debt where traditional bank lending doesn’t participate and does that without diluting equity, unlike venture capital. This will help us maintain a balance in our financial structure & at the same time, keep growing at a rapid pace” said Amit Raj, Founder of Box8.

Started by two IIT graduates Amit Raj and Anshul Gupta, Box8 is a full stack online food delivery player that caters to Mumbai, Pune & Bengaluru. The company serves around 14,000 meals everyday through a network of over 65 stores across the 3 cities.

Box8 will use the fresh capital to expand itself geographically, both into newer cities as also penetrate deeper within its existing markets. Box8 is looking to form micro catchments to enhance customer experience, and will use the same approach to enter newer geographies of Delhi, Hyderabad and Chennai.

The Mumbai-based company will start operations in Northern India with 6-7 stores in Gurgaon before expanding into Noida and Delhi with a pipeline of 25 stores in FY18.
The food tech space has seen a lot of churn in 2016 with investments slumping to 2-year lows. Investors’ lack of appetite for the sector has led existing players such as Holachef, Freshmenu and others to widen their menu and create deeper offline strategies to stay relevant to customers.

“We have been monitoring the online food delivery sector for almost two years. More than 150 start-ups were funded in this space and as a venture debt provider, it was important for us to wait until some clarity emerged on the business models that would survive. Box8 has demonstrated ability to grow quickly with focus on Indian food and has established a
strong value proposition proven by high repeat customer behaviour,” said Rahul Khanna, Co-founder at Trifecta Capital.

Unlike its peers, Box8 is not looking to deviate from its course of Indian cuisines anytime soon. Box8 clocked Rs 28 crores in revenues in FY16 and claims to have grown twice as much in FY17. The management is targeting a monthly revenue growth rate of 10% for FY18 even as it charts a 2.5x revenue growth target for the full year.